A Cold Day in Spell, page 12
Lexi sighed and rolled her eyes at me in utter scorn. I recognized the look, one I’d used on my own mother when I was a teenager. Seeing it on an adult Lexi made me wish I’d not missed those years with her.
“We’re fine,” Lexi said. “Vaeta will handle the demon element. She has a special”—the two exchanged a look I couldn’t interpret— “dispensation.”
The way Lexi seemed to unbend around the air faerie simply annoyed me. I’ll admit to that base emotion, but not to being jealous. Much.
With a slight smile on her face, Vaeta twisted the ring she wore on her right hand until the flawless, blood-hued ruby faced inward, then rested it next to her left hand against the portal. Dark light flared red against the wavering curtain, and when Lexi rested her palm nearby, a doorway opened to show a concrete wasteland that looked familiar.
“What was in that ring? Demon essence?” It felt powerful, and I almost envied Vaeta the owning of it. I’d always craved power more than I probably should.
“Something like that,” was all she allowed.
A shock of electricity rippled along my nerve endings as I mustered up every shred of will and stepped through to my former prison and something of an anti-climax.
Gone was the pervading mist that had isolated me from my surroundings and my former cellmate. Sitting on a square plinth, the cage lay empty, missing its door, and from this perspective seemed less bleak than I remembered.
“If you’re through with the stroll down memory lane, could we get on with the matter at hand?” Lexi’s voice cut right through me.
I rounded on her. “Have a care how you talk to me, young lady.” Ugh, I sounded just like my mother and had the urge to bite my own tongue in half because that was the last thing I wanted.
She hit me with the eyeball-rolling sneer again, which sent my blood pressure into the red and I heard myself say, “We can turn right around and go home if that’s the way you want to be.” Cliche mother speeches must be passed down through the blood or something. Mine boiled and stirred and if I hadn’t clenched my teeth and forced it back down, tried to shoot my magic into the destructive zone.
Of all people, Delta stepped in to chide Lexi. “Cut her a break—she’s trying to help. This is the first real chance we’ve had of finding anything that would lead to one of the Fate Weavers. First rule of a successful mission: hauling baggage around can get you killed, so leave it at home.”
A band of tension squeezed my temples until my pulse throbbed painfully, and I tried to breathe through the moment without lashing out. I’d earned a level of mistrust, so I might as well own it because I needed this mission to go well. Otherwise, Lexi might never trust me enough.
To that end, I projected confidence and circled around the far side of the cage. “It’s right over here near this pile of stones.” Except it wasn’t, and my heart sank as I scrambled around to search the area where I remembered seeing the wand, nearly hidden between two rocks and just out of arm’s reach from the cage.
Without needing to turn and see it, I could feel Lexi’s withering stare on my back and had to fight to keep my shoulders squared.
“Are you absolutely sure you weren’t hallucinating? How did you even know it belonged to a Fate Weaver? We’re probably running a fool’s errand.” Lexi snapped.
I counted to five, slowly, before responding, in an attempt to keep my temper under control. “Because once Diana pointed it out, I could sense the magic signature that went into the making of it. It’s a talent I developed at a young age. Same way I know Delta’s sword is dwarf-made. A witch fashioned that wand, but it was carried by a son of Cupid.” There was more to it, but I make it a point to never tell everything I know.
I did, however, give Lexi a poke because she pissed me off. “Same way I know the difference between Alexis and Lexi.”
Lexi blanched, and it wasn’t hard to see why. I’d hit the nail on the head, and now she knew that I knew she’d become a fragmented version of herself. I’d like to say I understood the extent of it, but my daughter was still holding her cards as close as she possibly could. It might have been fun to let her squirm, but I didn’t have the heart to do it, so I explained as much as I could.
“Blood magic, but no darkness, went into the making of that wand, and the stone tip was bound with a piece of bowstring. I’m sure you can figure out the origin of that element on your own.”
“And why am I just learning about this now?” Lexi demanded. “Didn’t it occur to you that a wand like that might be helpful to me? I mean, I’m only fighting for my life here, no big deal,” she spat.
I sighed, “You have the bow. I figured that was a better substitute, and you seemed to be getting along just fine with it. Besides, I don’t know the exact formula for crafting your wand, so it’s a moot point. If we could find your father, he could tell us how.”
“Everything circles back to that, doesn’t it?”
“You’re just being stubborn. It doesn’t take a genius to see that he’s our greatest asset, if nothing else. And there’s plenty else.” I shouldn’t have had to explain to my daughter why it was important to put our family back together, but she wasn’t having any of it.
“Did it ever occur to you that he doesn’t want to be found? If he did, he’d be here. I saw him. He walked away. On. His. Own.”
I reared up for a snappy retort but Delta stomped her foot with such force the Nexus itself shuddered, dust raining down around us like snow. “Enough,” she roared, forcing us all to refocus. I knew she was right, and we were acting like children, but there was no way I’d let her know that.
“Maybe you’re looking on the wrong side.” Vaeta’s gentle suggestion was meant to be encouraging, I was sure, but didn’t quite come off that way. “Would it help to step back inside and get your bearings?”
Heat flared up from my belly and colored my face darkly. “Why? So you can slam the door behind me and leave me here? Not going to happen, sister.” I wouldn’t put it past her, and so I readied my defenses, which made the faerie do the same.
She stepped closer and we squared off.
When she felt the wild magic creeping over her skin, Lexi looked at me and said, “Oh, go put your panties in the freezer and chill down a notch.” It was the first time she’d sounded like herself since my return.
Delta’s snort diffused the tension with Vaeta.
“Getting back in there won’t help,” I said, cutting the cage a wide swathe. “I know this is the spot. See the markings on that stone?” I pointed out a chunk of blue-gray stone with web-like veins of quartz running over its oblong surface. “That rock was the prettiest thing I had to look at the whole time I was here. Trust me, I would recognize it anywhere.”
Just for form, though, I did another circuit of the cage with the other three women on my heels.
The search turned out to be as big a waste of time as I’d expected. “I should have known she’d come back for it, or maybe she grabbed the wand on her way out. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to escape, I might have thought of that myself.”
I slumped down on the corner of the concrete base and leaned my back against the bars of my former prison. This wasn’t the time to indulge in a pity party, but it did seem like the universe would never let me catch a break. So much for making a good impression.
Lexi drove the nail home. “Yes, well, that would have required you thinking of something other than yourself, and we both know that’s not your strong suit is it, Mother? You’ll always choose to save your own skin.”
She stood before me, eyes fired with fury, shoulders wide, and back ramrod straight, and I felt an obscene sense of pride in my daughter. Right before her words cut me, anyway.
“I didn’t have to bring you here, did I? But I did because I thought I could help.” I tried to stay calm. “It’s not easy for me, you get that, right? Ending up in here wasn’t exactly my biggest triumph. It cost me you and everything else I loved.”
One flawlessly shaped eyebrow arched toward the ruthlessly straight fall of bangs over Lexi’s forehead. “Nice to know you are capable of feeling something for anyone besides yourself, but you sure have a funny way of showing motherly love.”
Maybe this wasn’t the best place for a fight, but it seemed like Lexi was spoiling for one, and who was I to deny her what she wanted? I launched to my feet and got all up in her personal space. “What do you want from me? An apron and a tray of cookies? If that’s the kind of mother you had in mind, I’d have been a disappointment from the word go.”
Lexi glared at me like I’d just insulted her and curled her lip. “Clearly, you have no idea what I wanted or needed. You don’t honestly think my godmothers dropped the ball, do you? They met every stereotypical motherly standard in the book. But, they weren’t witches, and they didn’t even know I was a Fate Weaver. What I needed was motherly guidance, and you were the only one who could have provided the brand I required. Now, you want to swoop in and be my bestie. Well, I can tell you right now, that’s not going to happen.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” I retorted, raising my voice another couple of notches until we were just plain shouting at one another. “A friend would have told me about the Balmorrigan, and wouldn’t have refused my assistance. Instead, I had to hear that you’re in mortal danger from Vaeta.”
Lexi scowled in Vaeta’s direction, but the airy faerie simply avoided eye contact and allowed us to continue the argument.
“Show me the mark.” I demanded, stalking toward my daughter and grabbing her by the shoulders. I spun her around and lifted her shirt, even though I could tell my encroachment on her personal space made her want to punch me in the throat. Thankfully, she resisted the impulse and deigned to let me see what all the fuss was about.
A little bigger than a quarter, the ringed symbol meant absolutely nothing to me, but I could have at least offered Lexi a balm for the red, irritated skin that surrounded it.
“And, do you have anything helpful to contribute, now that you’ve seen it?” Lexi’s voice was cold and dispassionate.
“No,” I admitted, utterly deflated, “I’m sorry. For that, and for a lot of things.”
“So I’ve heard.” For a moment, I thought she might soften, but I should have known better. Lexi was, after all, a spitting image of me in more ways than one, and I wasn’t kidding when I said I could hold a grudge for all eternity. I also had a tendency toward vindictiveness, and apparently so did my daughter.
She pulled back and delivered the knock-out punch. “Since we’re baring our souls, here’s something you didn’t know. On the day you were sprung from your prison, I was here with the guardian angel and the godmothers. I fell and hit my head right over there,” she pointed to the corner of my former cell and then to a small scar on her forehead. “My blood was what set you free.”
Leaving me open-mouthed and stunned, Lexi turned on her heel and exited the portal. At least she had the decency to leave it open, but when I made my way back out, it was to find she’d driven away and left me there.
Chapter 17
I should have known better than to get involved with Sylvana. The woman was duplicitous, and even if she was telling the truth, it always held a fraction of a lie. Not for the first time, the feeling that maybe I’d been better off not having been raised by her crossed my mind. It always made me a bit sad to think of my own mother like that, but I hadn’t been the one to set the status quo, and it wasn’t up to me to repair the relationship.
Combined with the fact that we hadn’t found what we were looking for, I felt the overwhelming urge to blow off some steam. And for me, that meant doing a little after-hours fate weaving. The air had turned from chilly to downright frigid, though, and the normally busy streets were eerily silent, with not a single shimmering heart symbol in sight.
Without a target, I let the anger and confusion over Sylvana deflate like a balloon and instead turned my thoughts to Kin and the dates I’d arranged for him after our last disastrous meeting. He had sent several text messages over the course of the week, each one more bemused than the last. I reread them for about the hundredth time.
Blind date #1 didn’t show. Or, she came into the restaurant, saw me, and left. My ego has been damaged, and I may never recover.
Most women seemed to swoon over Kin, so I highly doubted he’d been stood up for any other reason than some kind of personal emergency. I had replied with a time and place for his next setup and left it at that.
Blind date #2 had an allergic reaction to my cologne, couldn’t breathe, and had to be rushed to the hospital via ambulance. I’m 0-for-2 and feeling even more like a pariah.
The image had brought a wry smile to my face, but it came with a burst of frustration. Getting Kin matched would close the book on that chapter of Lexi’s life, and maybe then we could both find some peace. I hoped the woman slated for tonight’s meeting would work out better than the first two, and decided that if I couldn’t find anyone else to help, I could at least check on Kin’s progress with my own two eyes.
Setting him up without benefit of the bow or my LPS hadn’t been easy, and meant I’d had to resort to some kindergarten-level matchmaking. I’m ashamed to say I redirected a few leftovers from bow-made matches. You know, the woman left behind when a symbol-carrier met his match. I was not proud of the method, but it was all I had to offer.
I knew he’d chosen The Coffer as a meeting place, and since I wasn’t far from there anyway, I looped around Tidewater Park and headed for the historic district. An old bank, The Coffer used to be one of mine and Kin’s favorite hangouts, and it stung a little to know he might be having a good time there with someone else. Why I had come to care about that, I couldn’t say. I’d been perfectly content to leave Kin to his own devices, but it felt like Lexi’s feelings were leaking out of the box she’d stashed them in, and now I couldn’t seem to get the man off my mind.
When I was only a few blocks away, another message dinged into my inbox.
Okay, I’m starting to doubt your skills, Ms. Balefire. Date #3 thought I reminded her too much of her brother, mumbled something about being sick, and never came back from the restroom. If you’re not busy right now, want to come help me drown my sorrows at The Coffer? You can’t miss me. I’m the one crying into my bourbon and coke.
I let Kin down quickly, Sorry, I’m in the middle of something. Maybe some other time.
Please. His simple reply tugged at my resolve.
I felt my heart flutter, watched my fingers type back a simple OK, and cursed Lexi for her rubbery spine. He’s not yours anymore, and all you’re going to do is get yourself hurt.
That was all you, sweetheart. She echoed back. And now you can deal with it. The connection between us slammed shut so hard it made my eyelids flutter, and then she was gone.
“It doesn’t look like you’re drowning in your sorrows to me.” The words came out sounding like an accusation, but Kin just tossed me one of his knee-buckling grins and threw his third dart without bothering to watch its progress. When it pinged into the bullseye and the electronic display jingled like a slot machine, he glanced back in surprise and did a little victory dance that brought an involuntary grin to my face.
Kin merely smiled like he was a cat who’d just finished a delectable serving of canary. “It’s karaoke night, and I can’t handle all the bad singing by myself.”
“Flimsy excuse.”
He shrugged and led me to a waist-high table in the corner, waving the waitress over on our way, “One bourbon and coke, one vodka cranberry, and you can put it on that guy’s tab,” Kin pointed toward the dart game loser, who gave the thumbs up along with a slight grimace. “That’s what you wanted, right?” He asked after the girl had returned to the bar. “I don’t know why I just assumed.”
“Vodka cranberry works just fine.” I replied lightly. “I’m easy.” I felt a blush creeping up to my cheeks because that had come out entirely wrong, but Kin didn’t seem to notice. “So, what am I doing here if not comforting you?”
It was Kin’s turn to turn a little pink. “I wanted to see you. Is that so terrible?”
I wanted to reply in the affirmative, but felt myself being pulled in by his husky voice and the glint in his eye that I suddenly remembered with alarming clarity. Without Lexi’s constant presence in the back of my mind, I couldn’t brush those memories off as remnants of her infatuation.
“No, of course not.” I heard the murmured words come out of my mouth and wondered if I had gone temporarily insane. And then it hit me; he’d ordered my drink of choice without needing to ask what I wanted.
“Okay, so dance with me.” He said when one of the other patrons began to sing a halfway decent version of Make You Feel My Love. Kin’s eyes searched my face, and when the waitress dropped our drinks off at the table and gave me a moment of reprieve, I was grateful.
I tossed back the contents of the glass, and stood to place my hand in Kin’s outstretched one. “All right.”
He led me to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around me to pull me close. The scent of him went straight to my head and I felt myself sighing into a comfortable position. Memories dredged from the past and pulled me into a little montage where I, and not Lexi, took center stage. Kin had loved all the parts of me, even the ones that scared him, and I couldn’t keep pretending that wasn’t true.
When I had been frightened, he’d held me. When I felt fractured, he’d helped make me feel whole. There had been moments where he’d been afraid for me, and he’d been strong enough to stand up, even to the goddess part of me, and insist that I should be more careful. Had I underestimated his ability to deal with all that my being a Fate Weaver entailed? Had I been worried about his safety, or had I been worried about the state of my own heart if something bad happened to him?
All the thoughts crowding my brain really belonged to the Lexi half of me, and I tried to shove them off, but the heat of Kin’s skin on mine made it difficult to do anything besides revel in the way it felt to be held close after months of pushing everyone away.
